Every Monday about 15 inmates gather inside a classroom at the Chester County Prison’s work release center with one goal in mind, becoming a better parent.

They are joined by about 20 volunteers from area churches for a faith-based mentor program known as the Malachi Dads. The program, part of the broader Family Re-entry Initiative, is a 12-part series of sessions based in Scripture that aims to prepare men on the inside for life after prison.

Steve Pacinelli, the director of Malachi Dads and the Family Re-entry Initiative (FRI), began volunteering at the prison in Jan. 2008 and started the local chapter of Malachi Dads on July 19, 2010. He says the program is designed to teach men how to be better fathers after their release and reduce the likelihood that they will end up back behind bars.

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“A father will always be a father, and that’s what we teach,” Pacinelli said, adding that the initiative hopes to build healthy families instead of leaving area children with a legacy of crime and broken homes. “It’s about being a better parent, it teaches them how to be a father and reconnect with their children.”

The men who participate in Malachi Dads spend two hours each week learning how to successfully re-enter society, and eventually rejoin their families. After 12 weeks they graduate from the program, but their relationship with Malachi Dads does not end there. Each inmate is paired with a mentor who continues to provide one-on-one counseling for six months after their graduation.

Pacinelli said the same group of about 20 volunteers has been with Malachi Dads since its inception, and that without them the program could not have been successful.

“The volunteers are the backbone of the program, it’s them that makes it all work,” Pacinelli said.

Pacinelli’s volunteer work was not the first time he found himself behind Chester County Prison’s walls. He served time in state prison from 2002 to 2006 for theft and related offenses. Pacinelli says a 2002 stint in Chester County Prison helped turn his life around when he found his faith behind the prison’s walls.

“I was rehabilitated,” Pacinelli said, adding that the religious and counseling programs available to him during his time at the Chester County Prison inspired him to get involved with mentoring and counseling programs upon his release. “I paid my debt to society and now I’m giving back and having a positive impact on these men and women. I just had a passion to come back and help these people.”

In addition to building stronger families, Pacinelli said the Family Re-entry Initiative and Malachi Dads is intended to show the court system that the inmates involved are actively seeking to better themselves during their time in prison. He said that the courts and criminal justice system as a whole are becoming increasingly aware of the program and its efforts, and that results are already starting to show.

“Chester County is on the cutting edge of reentry programs,” Pacinelli said. “FRI and Malachi Dads has had a significant impact on the deduction of the recidivism rate in Chester County. I know we’re having an impact.”

More than anything, Pacinelli says the goal is to give current inmates a real shot at re-entering society successfully, like he did. He spoke about the challenges facing convicts when they are released from prison.

“They face a lot of obstacles when they get out,” Pacinelli said. “They obviously paying for their own mistakes, but it’s very tough on someone coming out of prison.”

Inmates currently participating in Malachi Dads say the initiative has already helped them prepare for their eventual release from prison, and hope it can continue to grow.

“It’s affected me in so many positive ways,” one inmate wrote in a letter to the Daily Local News. “It has motivated me to turn away from the street life I used to live. It has motivated me to be a productive father to my son and a productive member of society.”